The 2025 NFL Draft is now less than a week away. Insiders and analysts are pumping out rumors and mock drafts left and right, so the Dallas Cowboys need to be cognizant of potential smokescreens.

After all, they own the No. 12 overall pick. Given this isn’t a strong class, there doesn’t figure to be much movement on the trade front in the first rounds. That said, Dallas should still be working the phones in earnest to gather as much intel as possible.

It goes without saying, but round one sets the tone for the entire draft. Getting an immediate impact player with the No. 12 pick is a must for Dallas. A starting wide receiver is the biggest need, so Tetairoa McMillan and Matthew Golden have been heavily mocked to America’s Team.

There is a strong chance one of McMillan or Golden will be available. McMillan is regarded as the top WR in this class, so he is considered the “dream” pick. However, Kellen Moore and the Saints are lurking at No. 9 overall and momentum is building for Moore to backstab his former team.

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The Saints badly need a quarterback after Derek Carr’s shoulder injury. They have been circled as the most likely landing spot for Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders, who’s expected to be the second QB taken following Miami’s Cam Ward.

While Sanders wouldn’t be a bad pick at No. 9, ESPN draft analysts Field Yates and Matt Miller are not buying the Sanders to New Orleans smoke. Yates believes the Saints will target a QB at some point in the draft, but not with their first-round pick.

“Ultimately, for New Orleans to take a quarterback that high, the decision-makers have to be in love with that prospect,” Yates writes. “I have not gotten the sense that the Saints are there with Sanders.”

While Yates acknowledged that it is smokescreen season, he does not think New Orleans likes Sanders enough to draft him that early.

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Miller writes that the Saints are not a quarterback away from competing and “reaching for a passer won’t change their outlook.” He also notes the team is still bullish on 2024 fifth-round pick Spencer Rattler.

This intel does not confirm the Saints won’t take a QB at No. 9, but it seems like a long shot at this juncture.

That is bad news for Dallas, as New Orleans selected McMillan in Dane Brugler’s latest mock draft for The Athletic. If Brugler thinks McMillan is in play for the Saints, he probably is.

The Cowboys will likely just pivot to Golden if the Saints take McMillan, but McMillan is without question the better prospect.

Whereas McMillan would be great value at No. 12, Golden would be a little bit of a reach based on the consensus rankings WR2 is such a big need that taking Golden wouldn’t be the end of the world, but again, he is a bigger question mark as a prospect relative to McMillan, who was productive all three years at Arizona.